erceive a certain
dim outline of something that looked like a framework of timber, but its
complete shape was hidden from them by the figures of those who were
standing in between.

All the masked men appeared to the boys to be waiting for something or
someone before they proceeded with whatever they were preparing to do.

As they stood there, frozen into rigidity and silence by a dreadful and
indefinable sensation of horror, they heard a fluttering sigh coming
from the opposite end of the room, apparently from somewhere near the
mysterious framework.

This sigh, faint at first, suddenly changed into a most fearful sound--
something between a moan and the noise a man makes when the breath is
suddenly driven from his body. The sound was so full of horror that
they felt their blood literally curdle within them. It was all the more
terrifying because they could not tell who or what it was that produced
it. In spite of themselves they moved a few steps nearer, and then a
sight met their eyes which turned them sick.

What they had taken for a wooden framework was indeed a framework, but
one for a terrible use.

It consisted of four pieces of timber merely, two long and two short.
These were fastened together in the form of a rectangle, thus producing
an article somewhat resembling a bed-frame, only rather narrower; and
the wood-work was much more massive. Two iron rings were fixed in the
centre of each of the short pieces, and to each of these were attached
stout straps of raw hide.

And there, stretched upon this framework, and supported in position
solely by his hands and ankles, around which were fastened the raw hide
strips attached to the rings, lay the figure of a man!

The body was perfectly naked; and as the boys looked, unable to turn
their eyes away through sheer horror at the sight, which held them as
though fascinated, the groups of cowled men separated and, seizing the
lads, pushed them forward until they stood close to the framework and
had a full view of the whole dreadful scene. A voice behind them
uttered the words:

"Look! Take warning!" But it is very doubtful whether either Harry or
Roger heard the words; their brains seemed paralysed by the sight that
met their eyes.

The figure was that of a man, evidently in the prime of life; the legs
were stretched so far apart by the framework that it was extraordinary
that flesh and blood could endure the strain and still hang together.
The arms